1. Students read
a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding
of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of
the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond
to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal
fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic
and contemporary works.

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend,
interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior
experience,
their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge
of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies,
and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence,
sentence structure, context, graphics).

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating
ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate,
and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print
texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways
that suit their purpose and audience.

Samples from PowerPoint,
Directed to Students' Parents

The purpose of this activity is to show the incredible courage of
Jackie Robinson and people like him who helped break through racial
barriers. Please talk to your children!

Students in Mrs.
Waugaman's classes will be reading Teammates by Peter Golenbock
next week. This is a nonfiction book about Jackie
Robinson and his friendship with fellow Dodger Pee Wee Reese.

In preparation for this activity, we will be building the students'
background knowledge by viewing a presentation and discussing the
issue of segregation in the U.S. during Jackie Robinson's lifetime.

It would be very helpful for your child if you, or
any members of your family would share any personal remembrances
of segregation
in the '30s, '40s, or '50s. Children have many questions about this
period of American history. They wonder about the Ku Klux Klan, who
they were, why they were so racist. They are concerned about injustice
that was prevalent during that era. "Why couldn't black kids
and white kids play together? Could they walk on the same side of
the street? They went to different schools? They couldn't eat together?
Couldn't even sit together on the same bus?"

At the bus station in Durham, North Carolina, Jack Delano, photographer,
1940 (courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

Primary resources from a variety of Web sites were used to create
a PowerPoint presentation about Jackie Robinson and segregation in
the 1940s. The photograph in this slide came from the American Memory
Collections at the Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott photographed
it in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1939.

How many students sit
silently in the classroom with no understanding of the events behind
a story because they do not bring prior knowledge with them from
conversations or experiences at home? What are some strategies
teachers can use to introduce information crucial to comprehension?
What role can technology play in assisting teachers with presenting
prior knowledge in an engaging way?

Kathleen Waugaman,
a fourth grade Safety Net teacher, took advantage of several technology
tools to aid her students in understanding
the book Teammates by Peter Golenbock. Teammates is a story about
Jackie Robinson and his friendship with Pee Wee Reese, both Brooklyn
Dodgers, in an era of segregation. Waugaman employed the Big6 framework
to design this powerful lesson that engaged her low-level reading
students in learning about the '30s, '40s, and '50s. (See the Lesson
Plan sidebar on building prior knowledge.)

To begin the lesson, Waugaman wanted each student
to identify with the notion of what it would be like to be a baseball
player. Students
went to predetermined Web sites to view baseball cards and the information
each contained. This was the first step in building a foundation
of knowledge. Then, digital photographs were taken of each student.
They posed in baseball stances with a ball or bat. The pictures were
inserted into a word processing document and a border was placed
around each picture. These "baseball cards" were hung on
the bulletin board for all to enjoy.

The most powerful part of the lesson was the PowerPoint presentation
created to show the injustices that existed during the time period
when Jackie Robinson became the first black in baseball to play
on a white team. Waugaman scoured the Web for primary resources
that would depict actual events that happened when Jackie Robinson
lived. She then put together in a very compelling slide show with
simple, descriptive text and a series of images that showed segregation,
the Ku Klux Klan, violence, and the changes made during the Civil
Rights Movement. Students viewed and discussed the content of the
presentation before reading the book. As Waugaman put it, "They
were full of questions about the pictures."

To inform parents about this activity, Waugamann published an article
in her Safety Net newsletter. Her goal was to include parents in
the learning process by having them share their knowledge with their
children.

Knowledge Gained

Prepared with
prior knowledge, students began reading and discussing Teammates
with great enthusiasm. They knew the vocabulary
and
the context of the story in history. They had confidence to ask
relevant
questions. Kathy Waugaman summed up the experience as follows: "If
you had told me that I would be using technology with my students
as a tool a few weeks ago, I would have laughed. Now I am a believer!"

Explore a wide range of original source materials such as newspaper
articles, letters, and photographs that tell the story of Jackie
Robinson and the history of baseball from the 1860s to the 1960s.
The Robinson story is told in five chapters: Drawing the Color
Line, Barnstorming and the Negro League, Breaking the Color Line,
Robinson
as a Dodger, and Robinson's Later Career. This unique collection
draws from all resources available at the Library of Congress.

Jackie Robinson was a strong civil rights advocate both on and
off the field. The National Archives and Records Administration
holds
numerous records that pertain to his quest for equality, including
letters and telegrams to Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and
Johnson. In one telegram to President Kennedy, Robinson implores
him to
make every effort to provide federal protection for Dr. Martin
Luther King and his contingent who are attending the funeral
of Medgar Evers in Mississippi.

If you are looking for a one-page biography of Jackie Robinson
along with a few of his quotes, this is a good site to visit.
In addition
to Jackie Robinson, the Amateur Athletic Foundation honors four
other men who crossed the color barrier of Major League Baseball:
Larry Doby, Henry Thompson, Williard Brown, and Dan Bankhead.

When students click on the images of the timeline, a pop-up window
appears with relevant facts and photos. It is another great starting
point to spark student interest in reading about the first black
man to play in the major leagues. In fact, he starred in his
film biography The Jackie Robinson Story in 1950.

Jim Crow ruled the South from about 1890 to well into the 1960s.
Remembering Jim Crow is a documentary funded by the National
Endowment for the Humanities that examines this era in depth.
This companion
site contains a wealth of information including several slide
shows that describe visually the injustices of the past plus
excerpts
from interviews of individuals who lived and experienced or observed
repression. In addition, there are samples of the Jim Crow laws
that were part of everyday life in the South. Social studies
teachers will be able to supplement textbooks with lots of rich
content
from this site.

Lesson Plan

Building Prior Knowledge

Unit Context: Reading, comprehension

Content Objectives: Responding to text

Big6 Skills

1. Task:

Skill Level: What is segregation?

Concept Level: What was the social ramification and impact of hiring
a black baseball player, Jackie Robinson, in the Major Leagues in
the 1940s?

Application Level: What role did Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese
play in easing the process?

Activities: Preview the PowerPoint presentation
to enhance prior knowledge, find facts contributing to the social
climate in the
U.S. during the 1940s—specifically, segregation. Find facts
about both the black and the white baseball leagues.

5. Synthesis: Produce a PowerPoint presentation and a Word document
that demonstrates a deeper understanding of the story Teammates by
Peter Golenbock.

6. Evaluation Rubric

4 – Demonstrates excellent understanding
of the societal implications of the first black man in white
baseball leagues that
is fully supported
with evidence from the text, explanations, and interpretations.

3 – Demonstrates good understanding of the
changes in society and the world of sports with the hiring of
the first black baseball
player in white leagues. Ideas are supported with adequate evidence
from the text or explanations.

2 – Shows some understanding of the connection
between the first black man hired to play on a white team and
its impact on
society, but with few ideas developed.

1 – Brief response, minimal understanding
of the impact of the first black baseball player on a white team.